Core 2 or Quad?

[newbiebuilderguy]

After doing LOTS of reading here and elsewhere, it seems as though you'd be better off going with the e8500. By the time software catches up to quad cores my guess would be that enough else will have changed by then that you'll probably want to upgrade the other components as well anyway. Of course that all depends on how frequently you plan on updating the system.

Save the money and get the e8400

 

[snowsurfer]

After a slow start, software is catching up very fast with multicore. Right now, for example, my computer is used A LOT as a media hub over my home network, and the prime piece of software I use - PS3 Media Server, which transcodes HD video for me on the fly, is multicore enabled (very big difference noticeable), the Valve Source engine has recently been multicore enabled, my OS (Vista Ultimate 64) also is, so even if the software isn't, it can still manage across the cores. It is true that a dual core will be somewhat faster on non-enabled apps, but it is a dying breed IMO. Expect to see the next revisions of most popular game engines mc enabled too.